The Associated PressBruton Smith, seen here Saturday at Kentucky Speedway, is a colorful character who often doesn't think before he speaks, nor does he usually care who he offends.

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 5, 2010)

HAMPTON, Ga.--Speedway Motorsports chairman Bruton Smith didn’t exactly defend his comments about Homestead-Miami Speedway, but he did put a unique spin on the remarks Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Smith would like to see NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series end its season at Las Vegas. He also thought Atlanta, the scheduled season finale from 1987 to 2001, was a better option than finishing off the schedule at Homestead, which it has done since 2002. Smith owns Las Vegas and Atlanta.

"If you're going to do a championship, you've got to do it at the proper place, and I don't think North Cuba is the proper place," Smith said Saturday at Kentucky Speedway.

On Sunday, after a gathering of fans who had attended the first race at Atlanta in 1960, Smith deflected questions about the North Cuba comment.

“I was just speaking the truth,” he said. “I was actually complimenting them. It was actually based on location, so I was just kind of being kind to the location. That’s what it was.”

Smith continued to stress that weather was the main factor in Atlanta losing its spring date to Kentucky in 2011, but he wouldn’t rule out restoring a second date to Atlanta if the circumstances warranted.

“Maybe one day we’ll bring another event here, but I wouldn’t want to do it in March,” Smith said. “I think we tried that and tried it awfully hard over the years, and people before me. I can remember actually coming down here four times before we actually ran the race—rain, rain.

“March is not the time to run a race here. The last race of the year worked really good here. That worked really, really good.”

Ekstrom tests for Richmond ride

Mattias Ekstrom, a two-time champion in the German Touring Car Series, will make his second Cup start for Red Bull Racing on Sept. 11 at Richmond, pending a successful test Tuesday at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

As a fill-in for Brian Vickers, who is undergoing treatment for blood clots, Ekstrom qualified 38th and finished 21st after leading seven laps in his Cup debut at the road course at Infineon Raceway in June.

Billionaire boys club

One guest at the Atlanta drivers’ meeting could give Smith more than a run for his money.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and one of America’s wealthiest investors, attended the drivers’ meeting as a guest of team owner Joe Gibbs.
Well known for his personal frugality, Buffett joked about extending his saving efforts to time as well as money.

“I understand these guys can do pit stops in 12 seconds,” he said. “I’m going to see what we can do to get it under 11.”